Can wine taste of minerals? This idea has exploded onto the wine scene in just the past few years. It used to be that certain wines were described as being "steely," "austere," "lean" and the like, but suddenly "minerality" is the thing.

The Wildewood and Domaine Loubejac properties near Monmouth comprise 385 acres of pinot noir and pinot gris plantings. That's in addition to 185 acres (an acre is the area of a football field) under the company's control near McMinnville.

The Sonoma State Wine Business Certificate Series has attracted participants from across the US and as far away as China, Peru, India, France, Italy and New Zealand. The lessons learned are facilitating shared business developments around the globe, according to wine industry faculty member Tim Hanni, M.W, who teaches the 4-week introduction and 8-week intermediate levels of the three-level certificate.

Chateau de Pic in the Cadillac Cotes de Bordeaux, Chateau l'Enclos in Sainte Foy la Grande and Chateau Patarabet in Saint Emilion are the latest Bordeaux estates to reportedly pass into the hands of Asian investors.

Consumers don't need-or want-centralized gatekeepers telling them what they should or shouldn't drink. Consumers still need advisors, of course, but when today's consumers want information, they're willing to look past professional critics and instead turn to friends and trusted networks.

That was made clear earlier this afternoon during the second of three hearings by the Senate Law and Justice Committee focused on the retail aspects of getting the state out of the business of selling alcohol.

Senators voted Tuesday to weaken current immigration law that requires biometric checks of all visitors to the U.S., arguing that it would be too expensive to follow through and could end up keeping illegal immigrants from getting citizenship.

A second hearing in front of Pennsylvania state senators Tuesday on the liberalization of wine, beer and liquor laws appeared to solidify support for legislation that would allow private-sector sales of wine and liquor, but would not end every aspect of state control.

Senators on the Judiciary Committee spent their second full day slogging through proposed amendments to the bipartisan immigration overhaul. Tuesday's subject was the method of awarding visas for those wanting to come here to study and work